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Highway questions

The limited-access highway carrying traffic to and from the south end of Mt. Pleasant might not be as limited, if developers of a massive retail complex get their way.

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The south U.S. 127 business route has no stops or crossroads from the point where it leaves Mission Road just south of Mt. Pleasant to the U.S. 127 freeway. But plans call for not just one, but two, new access points.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm last month announced the state would spend $1 million toward the upgrade of South Isabella Road, including tying it into the U.S. 127 business route. Currently, Isabella Road dead-ends at the business route.

Now, Encore Development LLC, the developers of the Union Commons shopping complex planned for Bluegrass Road east of Mission Road, say a second road could be added to provide access to the mall.

The Union Township Zoning Board of Appeals recently approved a 35 foot high, 20 foot wide sign that would be placed along the business route where the proposed road would come through. That sign would be erected, whether or not the road is built.

The mall access road from the business route would have to be approved by the Michigan Department of Transportation. The business route is a state highway.

"Wal-Mart is pushing this, and they're pretty confident,ˆ' said Jay Barnes, one of the principals of Encore Development. A Wal-Mart Supercenter and a Sam's Club discount warehouse are among the anchor stores in the Union Commons project.

The concept still is at the sketch stage. The precise location of the new intersection hasn't been set, but it would have to be in a location to allow traffic to stack behind a likely traffic signal.

The intersection would have to go east of the current Indian Hills Plaza.

The Isabella Road crossroad hasn't been designed, either. The most likely design would be a boulevard with a so-called "Michigan left,ˆ' according to Isabella County Road Commission Manager Jim Miller. Miller said he hasn't seen any formal plans for the intersection, however.

The precise location of the Isabella Road intersection would have to allow traffic leaving U.S. 127 enough space to slow down from freeway speeds to surface-road speeds. Currently, the speed limit along the two-lane highway is 55 mph, but that's often exceeded by traffic coming into town.

Within the shopping complex itself, plans calls for a county road to provide access from Bluegrass Road, according to plans filed with Union Township. The road would go past the Wal-Mart/Sam's Club complex on one side, the Menards home improvement center and Kohl's department store on the other.

It then would curve to the east and dead-end, temporarily, in front of a planned strip mall east of the Kohl's store. Plans for that strip mall have yet to be approved.

Encore Development has obtained the rights to land all the way to Isabella Road, and Barnes said eventual further development of the 170-acre project would mean the mall road would be extended to Isabella Road some time in the future.